


Circling the rabbit hole

by SteveM



Series: Soul And Centre. [1]
Category: Batwoman (TV 2019), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:42:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23722540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveM/pseuds/SteveM
Summary: As Kara and Kate settle in to their life as a married couple a new threat rises in National City.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Kate Kane
Series: Soul And Centre. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1708666
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

Kara Danvers woke slowly not wanting to leave the warmth and comfort that surrounded her. She sighed contentedly and reached out, her eyes still closed as she stretched upwards until her fingertips brushed the wrought iron headboard. She eased her head from side to side, working loose the kinks and shuffled further over on to her side, blonde hair tumbling down her back and across the pillow. Finally, knowing she couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer, she opened her eyes and was rewarded by the smiling face of her wife gazing lovingly at her.

“Morning.” Kara said with a grin that was quickly covered by a kiss and she shivered as fingertips trailed down her back. 

“Morning.” Kate Kane replied after a busy minute or two during which neither had wanted to come up for air. “You are ridiculously cute when you’re sleeping, you know that?”

“Not personally but you might have mentioned it once or twice.” Something flashed across Kate’s face and Kara raised an eyebrow.

“What? What’s that for?” Kate asked, defensively.

“Depends.”

“On?”

“On what you were about to say but didn’t…”

“I wasn’t… I mean, I… you’re sure you don’t have Super Telepathy?” Kate asked with a theatrical huff and was rewarded with another kiss.

“I’m sure.” Kara laughed. “But after almost a year I’d like to think I’ve gotten pretty good at reading you.”

“Thought that was meant to be my trick?”

“Oh it is but let’s face it I suck at lying so I’m not even good practice for you.”

“True.” Kate smirked and as Kara opened her mouth to retort she held up a hand. “Okay, I surrender. I was just thinking that you have the sexiest neck I’ve ever seen.”

Kara blushed and giggled but Kate shook her head. “Seriously. This right here…” She placed one hand just under Kara’s jaw, the other above her collarbone. “… this view is sexier than all of any other woman on the planet. Or off it, come to that.” Kara’s blush depend and she tried to worm her way into the pillow in mock embarrassment. Kate wasn’t about to let her get away with that though and lowered her lips to nip, lick and kiss the object of her desire.

“Mmm…. I could… do this… all day.” She purred between attacks, loving the little mews and jerks of pleasure that rewarded her efforts. “You even taste perfect.” Without warning she sucked hard and Kara’s hands tightened around her at the unexpected love bite. Fingers curled into Kate’s short hair and she grinned even as she kept up the pressure. Oh she knew full well what was coming next, what they both wanted, and the battle of wills to see who would give in to it first was delightful. Somehow Kara managed to outlast her, waited for the pressure to ease and Kate to lift away from her skin before pulling her roughly round into a passionate kiss that left both women seeing stars.

“Let me see?” Kara asked and there was more than a note of pleading in her tone. Kate chuckled and pulled her phone off the nightstand, flicking on the selfie camera to give Kara a clear view of her own neck and the red mark that seemed so unnatural against her perfect skin. Her fingers traced it happily and without warning she shuffled round, dragging Kate down to rest on her shoulder as she took a photo. Kate Kane and Kara Danvers, captured in the moment as a regular couple hopelessly in love.

“I’ve mentioned I love you, right?” Kate asked teasingly as she rocked her head back to nibble on Kara’s earlobe. 

“Guuuuuuyesss.” Kara gurgled the word, her eyes rolling back in her head. She’d had no idea her ears of all places were so sensitive until she’d met Kate and now they were practically even with Kryptonite on her list of weaknesses. “But don’t let that stop you.”

“I love you.” Kate whispered in the captured ear and Kara felt something inside her snap. She rolled over, pushing Kate’s hands up between the metal loops of the headboard and Kate felt the familiar tug of padded leather as her wrists slipped easily into the restraints that hung there.

“You know we’ve got places to be in an hour, right?” Kate asked regretfully.

“So we’ve got fifty nine minutes for some fun.” Kara replied with a grin, straddling the now-bound hero of Gotham and sitting up to let Kate eat up the sight of her naked wife towering above her.

“When you put it like that…” Kate said with a smile, shifting her hips to shuffle Kara down a little. “I’m all yours.”

“You better believe it!” Kara said, diving to the attack and sending Kate rushing headlong into a world of pure pleasure.


	2. Chapter 2

“You know one of these days we’re going to be late and have to explain why to your sister.” Kate observed as Kara swooped down to a careful landing on the roof of the DEO tower. Both of them were in full costume as they took the private elevator down to the command level. 

“Probably.” Kara agreed. “But as far as excuses go I’d say that ‘I couldn’t resist a naked Kate Kane’ is a pretty good one.”

Kate chuckled and nodded. “Fair point, though if it’s Alex I’d better remember not to use that the other way round. Especially if she’s armed.” She grew serious as they approached their floor. “Okay, game face on.” She muttered knowing full well that Kara would, of course, hear every word. Still she saw the Kryptonian square her shoulders and draw in to herself a little, that distance so key to making sure everyone around her was safe when she was letting her power off the leash. 

She glanced at Kara’s neck to double check that the yellow sun grenade had, indeed, done its job and there wasn’t a trace of the love bite remaining. Or any of those that had followed it for that matter. While that was certainly handy for avoiding any awkward explanations there’d been more than one occasion when they’d talked about wishing the marks could stay, at least for a little while. Kara would never admit it to anyone else but she rather enjoyed being branded as someone else’s plaything. It made a nice change from her public persona and it didn’t hurt when the woman doing the marking was as breathtaking as Kate.

“Good to see you Supergirl, Batwoman.” Agent Vasquez said with a genuine smile as they entered the command centre. She’d always been open and friendly with Kara, doubly so since the White Martian had infiltrated the DEO a couple of years ago, and had immediately extended that same warmth to Batwoman when she saw how close the two were. “Alex is waiting up in the conference room.”

“Thanks, anyone else around?” Kara asked returning the smile. 

“No, think most of the go team is going to be resting up for a while. Last night was… weird.” Vasquez led them through the huge room and up the left hand stairs to the glass wrapped conference suite. 

“Hi Alex.” Kara said wrapping her big sister up in a hug. One of the weirder things with married life was seeing Alex more at work than socially and they were both still getting used to the shift. 

“Hey.” Alex whispered, her hands pulling Kara close under the cape. She glanced up and saw Batwoman watching them with a tiny grin and noticed she’d positioned herself to block the Danvers sisters from view. She winked her thanks at the moment of privacy and got a slight nod in return.

“Vasquez said last night was weird?” Kara said, reluctantly letting go and slipping back into professional mode. 

“You could say that.” Alex nodded towards the screen which was split into quarters, each slice showing security cam footage of what looked like a riot.

“This is National City, right?” Batwoman asked surprised. “You didn’t accidentally tap into Gotham’s camera network?”

“Sadly no.” Alex confirmed. “Four riots overnight, no obvious trigger that we could see.”

“And yet the DEO is involved?” Kate asked and Alex had to hide the smirk as she won five bucks from Brainy. She’d figured Kate would pick up on that before she had to tell her and Brainy apparently didn’t have quite as much faith in Gotham’s defender as she did. 

“Well that would be the weird bit.” Alex confirmed. “Each riot seemed to start over something small between people that knew each other, escalated into full on brawls.. but became riots as soon as a human noticed an alien in the mix.”

“That doesn’t make much sense.” Kate said and Kara nodded her agreement, content to let her wife run with the problem for now. “Especially here! National City has been pretty open about aliens mixing with humans for years and it hasn’t caused problems like this.”

“It gets worse. The moment they were noticed it became almost full-blown human versus alien. No co-ordination but everyone just seemed to pick sides.”

“Strange.” Kate frowned in the cowl, watching the screens carefully. “It almost seems familiar… well… this one does anyway.” She pointed at the video in the bottom right of the screen. “Can you replay this one full screen?”

“Sure.” Alex said tapping a couple of controls. They watched as the two men that had started fighting were having what seemed a friendly and relaxed conversation… then suddenly their body language changed. Just for a second their shoulders squared, bodies setting for fight or flight… and then the first punch was thrown. It was almost as if someone had flicked a switch.

Kate shook her head. “I assume you checked for any foreign contaminants in the area? Areas I mean?”

“Yep, nothing.”

“Odd… If I didn’t know better I’d swear they’d gotten a dose of fear toxin or something similar. But that stuff leaves obvious hints behind and you wouldn’t get that us vs them thing going on. It just terrifies you to the point everything is a threat, no room for friends in that situation.”

“We’re still checking through the footage and all of our readings from the sites but right now there just doesn’t seem to be anything like that.”

“What can we do to help?” Kara asked and Alex grinned despite her best efforts. It really was cute how the two seemed to have fallen so easily into being protectors to the planet, both so confident in letting the other take the lead.

“For now, nothing. If there is something turning humans against aliens the last thing we need is them remembering you’re not technically from this planet.” Kara frowned but felt Kate’s hand land gently on her arm and nodded her understanding. “But be ready if we call. Small incidents like those the NCPD can handle with our help on the alien side. Much more though and it’ll start looking a lot worse very quickly.”

“Okay, we’ll be on comms.” Kara promised. “In the meantime, well….”

Alex glanced at the clock and realised with a start she’d lost track of the date. “Oh, is it today that you’re going to see her?”

Kara nodded and Kate’s grip tightened on her arm. “You know you don’t need to do this if you don’t want to.” She said quietly and Kara nodded, squeezing the hand that held her reassuringly.

“I know. But I do want to. At least if it doesn’t help I’ll know I tried.”

“Just be careful okay? She has a habit of getting into people’s heads.”

“She won’t get in to mine.” Kara promised. “Aside from anything else I’m pretty sure you’re standing in here watching over me.” She said with a wink, tapping the side of her temple with a finger.


	3. Chapter 3

An hour later Kara Danvers took a deep, calming breath and stepped through the door of the Van Kull Maximum Security Prison’s interview room. It was a simple space, thick walls with no windows containing just a table and two chairs. In one of the chairs was the woman Kara had come to see and the look on her face made the Girl of Steel wonder if this had been such a good idea.

“Hello Alice.” She said quietly, sitting down opposite her new sister-in-law.

“Kara Danvers. So it’s you I have to thank for my new home.” Alice said edging forwards as if getting a better look. “And you took off the cape to come in here for a chat, how charming!”

“Before we go on you should know there’s no monitoring or recording of what’s being said. No guard close enough to hear you. You can’t hold any secrets over me here.”

‘What’s to stop me telling someone when you’re gone?”

“Nothing.” Kara said with a shrug. “But you haven’t yet and I think I know why.”

“Oh really. Please go ahead, astound me.”

“Kate.” Kara said simply. “You can’t split one of us from the other now. Out me, so to speak, and you do the same for her. You’d paint the biggest bullseye in the world on her back and I don’t think you want that.”

“You might be surprised.” Alice said then sighed and rolled her eyes. “Alright, fine, you’re right I don’t want that. So for now at least your secret is safe with me.” Her eyes went hard and she practically snarled her next words. “But don’t let one lucky guess go to your head!”

“The thought of someone knowing you really gets to you doesn’t it?” Kara asked, keeping her tone light and conversational.

“You know NOTHING about me!”

“Really?” Kara put a clean copy of Alice In Wonderland on the table and slid it across. 

“Oh well done. Did it take you hours to make the connection or did you give up and ask Kate?” Alice said sardonically but her fingers brushed the cover with a barely concealed longing.

Kara didn’t reply. Instead she reached out and pulled the book back, held it for a second then threw it so hard into the far corner of the room it practically exploded when it hit the wall. Alice rocked back in surprise and shock.

“Why did you do that?” She demanded and for the first time Kara saw concern on her face, a momentary flicker as the woman realised she may not be in control of the situation.

“Because now you have exactly what I did. Nothing.” Kara said flatly. “You’re thinking about this the wrong way round, the real question is how much do you know about me Alice?” 

Alice rolled her eyes, her usual confidence restored. “Planet exploded, came here as a baby blah blah blah so sad.”

“Wrong. It was my cousin that left Krypton as a baby. I was twelve and sent in a second pod to protect him on this new planet. But when our world exploded around us it threw my pod off course into something called the Phantom Zone. Out there, stranded in the cold, empty blackness of space in a pod not much bigger than a coffin I slept amongst the stars for twenty five years.”

“Sounds restful.” Alice said and flinched back as she saw Kara’s eyes glow red for a moment before she cast her gaze down at the table.

“Except you don’t sleep in the Phantom Zone.” Kara said and now the pain and anger was clear in her voice. “My body was frozen but my mind was forced to walk between dreams and the waking world. Twenty five years with nothing but death behind me, my family, friends… everything I ever knew gone forever. In front of me a mission, a trust that I’d failed before I’d even started. Twenty five years of dreaming that my only remaining family was discovered, captured, tortured and dissected because I wasn’t there to protect them. Can you imagine what those dreams were like with such powerful thoughts to feed them and no escape, no way out through either life or death?”

Kara looked up and Alice tried to scramble out of her seat before the restraints caught her. She’d thought she’d known this woman, this saccharine slice of goodness who put herself above everyone else. Now for the first time she looked beneath the surface and what she saw terrified her to her core. 

“Except… you can imagine, can’t you?” Kara said quietly. In an instant the raging fire faded and died leaving only those big blue compassionate eyes staring at Alice. “You know exactly what that’s like because you went through it. Unimaginable horrors that you can’t even escape in your dreams. A reality so bleak you’d take any alternative no matter the cost.”

Silently Alice nodded, her gaze locked on the Kryptonian. “You found your escape in the pages of a book. If I’d had that same option I’d have taken it long before you did. I’m sorry if I scared you but you needed to know.”

“So why tell me this?” Alice asked, cautiously settling herself back into something resembling a comfortable position.

“So that you’d know why I’m here.” Kara replied carefully. “So that you might, possibly, believe me when I tell you that I don’t blame you for taking that path, that you’re a victim in all this and you have my sympathy for that.”

“Really? Does your sympathy always come with chains? I mean that’d explain why Kate likes you but not sure that’s how it’s supposed to work…”

“I said you have my sympathy. That doesn’t absolve you from the choices you’ve made.”

“Ah, and here we go. Let me guess: renounce your evil ways, let us save you etc etc?”

“No.”

“No?” Alice sounded genuinely surprised and a tiny bit hurt.

“No. We can’t save you, only you can do that. Just as you chose to flee reality so you have to choose to come back to who you were.”

“So why come here? Why tell me all this?”

“Because you don’t have to make that journey alone.” Kara said. “Because if you want to try, really try, to find a different path I’ll help you as much as I can. But only if it’s what you want Alice.”

Alice was silent for a long time as if the entire concept was alien to her. “You called me Alice… you’ve always called me Alice. Not Beth. Not like Kate.”

“Kate looks at you and sees her sister. I look at you and see the only woman I’ve ever known with that face.”

“And yet you’re still here?”

“Yes. Alice, Beth… those are just labels. Names don’t define who we are. What matters is the choices we make and how we treat others. Maybe, if things change, you’ll leave them both behind and become someone new. I don’t care about the label, I care about the person wearing it.”

Kara paused and heard, far off in the heart of the city, the sounds of violence. She winced and was ready for the buzz in her ear as Alex flipped on her signal watch. She rose but her eyes never left Alice.

“Think about what I said. I’ll be back after you’ve had some time to consider it. All of it.”

For once Alice didn’t have a retort ready and just watched the blonde leave the room, her mind rolling like a ship lost at sea. A path lay before her she’d never considered… and down that road lay so many tempting options that were suddenly clear to her.


	4. Chapter 4

Alex cursed as a fireball shot by close enough to singe her suit. She dove forward and rolled into cover behind the base of a large fountain, its chunky concrete central pillar already shattered by the fight going on around her. She glanced back and saw the rest of the squad finding their own safe spots as more fire flew overhead. How the hell had this gone so bad so fast she thought. One minute there was a little light scuffle going on the next it was a damn warzone!

In front of her a small but determined group of aliens were fighting with all their abilities. Which was a problem as this group seemed to be made up of Infernians who were living up to their name as they battled back against a much larger group of humans that had them pinned in from two directions. Only their impressive, and literal, firepower was holding everyone back but the humans didn't seem to much care. Four times now someone had broken out of hiding and dashed forward into the flames trying to get to their target. Each had eventually retreated but not before suffering horrible injuries. 

"Any ideas boss?" Vasquez asked as she slid into cover next to Alex.

"Yeah, but none that don't rack up a bodycount." Alex said tightly. 

"Hate to say it but I think we may not have much choice. If we don't they're going to!" 

Alex sighed and nodded. She was right, of course, this wasn't a situation that could be contained, quite the opposite. If they didn't shut it down soon the fight could easily break out of the park and spread across the city. 

"How can we help?" The words came from Alex's earpiece and she grinned as she felt the odds shift significantly.

"Co-ordinated assault!" Alex snapped the order and saw every DEO agent glance over in confirmation. "Vasquez with me and Supergirl, we'll take down the Infernians. Everyone else follow Batwoman in to the humans and put 'em down. Avoid lethal shots but we stop this here and now." She gave everyone a quick five count to get ready then carefully held up her hand, making sure to keep it shielded by what was left of the statue. One more glance around... and she balled her hand into a fist.

Suddenly Supergirl landed in the shallow water of the fountain, her body shielding Alex and Vasquez as they took position behind her. Her freeze breath made short work of the walls of flame reaching out for them and slowly they marched forward together. Out of the corner of her eye Alex saw Batwoman swoop in on the right flank, racing forward to scythe through the first six or seven humans before they were even aware she was there. The DEO agents flowed in behind her, spreading out and carving their way through the group from the inside out.

The flames coming their way redoubled as the alien contingent recognised the threat and concentrated their efforts. Kara smiled and grabbed the ends of her cape, lifting it up as a fire break for Alex and Vazquez to fire over, their stun shots slipping between the fireballs and bursting into blue sparks as they found their targets. As the remaining Infernians fell Kara turned her head to heat vision the rocks and other missiles being thrown at them by the group of humans on the left.

Which, as it turned out, was the only group left standing. Batwoman's small force joined them a moment after the last alien hit the ground and formed up, the DEO backing up their director as Batwoman stepped to Supergirl's side. As one the two heroes crossed their arms and glared at the remaining troublemakers... and it was if a spell had broken. In the blink of an eye they went from a frenzied mob to a confused and clearly scared huddle of bodies looking at what had to feel like a small army staring them down.

The remaining DEO force that had been moving in to position for their own attack came up behind the unresisting former rioters and started securing them as Alex gave the stand down signal. 

"Where the hell are National City's finest?" Batwoman asked, clearly frustrated.

"Busy. Very, very busy" Alex replied as she checked everything was under control. "A dozen different riots, all within an hour of each other. No obvious reason or motivation that we can spot, at least not yet. No slogans, no chanting, no banners just... just anger."

"No, not anger..." Batwoman muttered. "Fear." The Danvers sisters looked at her with a questioning look and she sighed. "Sorry but trust me, I know the difference at this point. It's something in the eyes. They were terrified and lashing out, anger is more.. focused."

"We've got analysis teams working on three of the other sites and I'll get a fourth in here." Alex said grimly. "If there was any sort of contaminant used we'll find it." 

"Are we needed at any of the other trouble spots?" Supergirl asked with trepidation. If they were then after so long those riots were likely to be substantially worse than this one had been.

"No, we were lucky. No aliens at any of them so the NCPD could handle them all before it got out of hand. But anything bigger would have been a serious problem!"

"There's got to be something causing this Alex!" Supergirl said and there was anger in her voice. "Someone, something manipulating these people."

"If there is we'll stop it." Alex promised. "For now it might be a good idea for you to both patrol the city tonight. Reassure everyone things are mostly normal."

"Not a bad idea." Batwoman said. "You want north or south?"

"I'll take the north." Supergirl said then suddenly swung her head up, scanning the rooftops at the far edge of the park.

"What is it?" Batwoman asked, her hand suddenly gripping a batarang, eyes trained on the same spot.

"I'm not sure... just for a moment I thought I saw something. A shape like a, like a cape or cloak or hood. Nothing there now though."

"Hmm... " Batwoman didn't sound convinced. In her experience if the Kryptonian spotted something then there tended to be something to spot. "Director, can you add a review of the CCTV cameras to your to-do list?"

"Sure, I think the janitorial squad aren't busy." Alex said with a sigh. "Stay safe you two."

"Always." Kara turned and winked at her sister before shooting into the sky, Batwoman just a heartbeat behind her as she grappled her way into the skyline. And behind them, as insubstantial as a shadow, something stirred in the mass of pipes leading to an air conditioning unit. It turned to follow Supergirl's passage and hissed thoughtfully.

Power, power to spare. And fear too, delicious. But under it was potential, limitless potential to be more. And all there for the taking if it was careful, patient. 

The hiss turned into a gurgling chuckle that clawed at the world. It had waited for eons, it could wait a little longer for her. And then... then it could begin its true work. Within the dim outline two yellow points of light tracked the sky, watching her flight and anticipating their meeting with something close to pleasure.

**Author's Note:**

> So after what I think is at least two novels worth of stories in the Life After Crisis series we finally head into something new! Think of it as Season 2 for this weird little offshoot continuity only with a slightly higher budget than the CW (and all of it's going on the third episode / story!). Pace is likely to be somewhat slower as the real world has rather intruded on the writing process but I'm hoping to keep it at least vaguely decent. Some of what's planned here has been in my head for at least two years, really looking forward to sharing it with all of you.
> 
> Talking of, can I just say again how much I appreciate the feedback and general positive response to what I've chucked up here. Really glad it can entertain, especially now when we can all use a little diversion!


End file.
